WFDF approves Bolivia, Cambodia, Rwanda and Uruguay as new member associations

13 December 2016

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has accepted Bolivia, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Uruguay as new WFDF member associations. With the acceptance of these four new national member associations, WFDF now has 71 member associations in 69 countries.

“After a thorough and multi-year development and evaluation process conducted by WFDF in close co-operation with the new member associations, the applications sent in by the BFDA, CFDA, RUFA and UFU were accepted by the WFDF Congress upon recommendation of the Board of Directors unanimously,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “I am extremely delighted about this announcement of the approval of these four new members, particularly given that we continue to grow on our emerging continents, with two new members in South America, one from Africa and another from Asia. This shows the great success of our development work including the coaching skills clinics and development grants which we allocate every year. We are looking forward to approving six more new members in the first half of 2017 as these are in close contact with us working on the approval process.”

The CFDA (Cambodia) representative Jared Cahners stated: "The Cambodian Flying Disc Association (CFDA) is very proud to be the newest member of the World Flying Disc Federation. The members and board of the CFDA have worked very hard to expand the reach of disc sports in Cambodia. WFDF membership not only will help us to continue our efforts and expand our development programs, but also brings with it the responsibility to be a leader for other programs in Asia and beyond. We are excited for the new opportunities and challenges ahead. Thank you to the WFDF staff and the other members of the Asian and international disc sports communities for your encouragement and we look forward to working closely with you in the future."

“The Rwanda Ultimate Frisbee Association is thrilled to be accepted by the WFDF congress,” stated RUFA (Rwanda) President Michael Tignor. “We are happy to be a part of the growth of the sport in the East African region and Africa as a whole. We want to continue to promote the sport's development in neighboring countries as well.”

“The Bolivian Flying Disc Association is most thankful and honored to become a member of the international Flying Disc Community by officially and permanently joining the WFDF. We wish to specially thank the WFDF Executive Director, Mr. Volker Bernardi, for his support and guidance in this process. In 2016 the BFDA was selected to benefit from the WFDF Development Grant Program which was of critical importance for our institutionalization as a National Association. Today, as permanent members of the WFDF, we are more committed than ever to the growth of Flying Disc Sports in our country and the Latin American region and are eager to work with WFDF in the years to come to achieve this objective,” stated Mauricio Ostria, Executive Director.

Carlos Andrés Chiale, President of UFU (Uruguay) stated: “Ultimate Frisbee Uruguay is really pleased to be accepted as member of WFDF as we have been working really hard for this and for the development of Ultimate Frisbee here in Uruguay. We hope this gives us new energy to continue growing and participating in WFDF international events. We will continue spreading Ultimate here and in the region. We want to thank Volker Bernardi for guiding us through this process, all the Ultimate players here in Uruguay, and our fellow athletes in the region who are always encouraging with good vibes."

Latest WFDF Communiques

The World Flying Disc Federation Board (WFDF) Executive Committee, Board members, Committee and Commission Chairs, Continental Representatives and staff come together for two and a half days of strategic discussions that will set the tone for Flying Disc for years to come.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring together a team of twenty WFDF board and key staffers for intense and productive discussions in New York City at our board meeting and strategic planning session this weekend,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “The WFDF board and staff are located across 12 different countries across global time zones and getting together primarily occurs during our monthly board meetings via a conference call. The 30 hours of meeting time this weekend significantly increases the productivity of discussions, reduces time in making decisions, and improves the work input, while building on the strength and comradeship of the WFDF key heads, making this meeting very important. ”

WFDF’s mission statement “to support and promote the global advancement of disc sports and spirit of the game” will be top of mind in all discussions as the group takes direct input and feedback from key representatives from multiple continents representing all the different Flying Disc Sports: Ultimate, Beach Ultimate, Disc Golf, Freestyle, Guts and Individual Overall Sports.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF), in cooperation with the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), is releasing the second edition of the world rankings for disc golf by country. USA remain the top ranked team in the world, followed by Canada, Finland, New Zealand and Estonia.The criteria for ranking countries are a combination of performance at WFDF World Team Disc Golf Championships and the PDGA ratings for top male and female players.

“The second edition of the WFDF World Disc Golf Rankings marks another significant step forward for WFDF members and countries affiliated with PDGA,” said Charlie Mead, the WFDF Disc Golf Committee chair.“As the criteria for ranking becomes known to the wider disc golf-playing world, National Associations are focusing their attention on how to move up the list. The inclusion of more women and juniors in the calculations for some countries has made a positive difference to their position.”

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has announced the results of its 2018 elections. This comes after the international federation recognized by the IOC for Flying Disc sports had executed a major revamp of its governance structure and Board composition that had been unanimously approved by the WFDF membership in the autumn of 2018. Among other positions, the membership re-elected Robert “Nob“ Rauch as President for an additional two-year term.

“WFDF is excited about the revisions to our governance structure with the expansion of the Board of Directors, bringing in the heads of our Continental associations and formalizing several other ex-officio positions. We are also extremely pleased to have increased the number of women on the Board to seven out of the eighteen members as we continue to pursue gender equality in our goverenance structure as well as in our competitive events,”commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) is pleased to announce that it has launched its new wfdf.sport domain name and related portfolio under the “.sport” domain name program initiated and managed by the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) to which WFDF belongs as a member.

“In today´s internet world of so many domain names and extensions, WFDF´s use of the wfdf.sport domain will provide much greater visibility and searchability for the Flying Disc community names. Using the strict criteria applied by GAISF enhances the legitimacy and credibility of Flying Disc‘s public communications and makes us a member of the exclusive ‘.sport‘ community,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (“WFDF”) is pleased to announce that its Congress has approved the Flying Disc Associations of Kazakhstan, Malta, Sri Lanka, and U.S. Virgin Islands as its newest Member associations, increasing WFDF’s membership to 84 national member associations.

“WFDF is proud to welcome the four new member associations to the WFDF flying disc family concluding the latest admission process overseen by our Executive Director Volker Bernardi,” commented WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved VC Ultimate as the WFDF Official Apparel Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. VC Ultimate, based in Toronto, Canada, receives the exclusive opportunity to develop and sell selected official event merchandise and apparel for the WFDF Ultimate Championship events for the four-year term.In return, this partnership will provide benefits to the players and teams, event organizers and to WFDF. VC Ultimate will also continue to work with WFDF to develop and market WFDF-branded gear to be sold through their Canadian, American and European online stores.

The World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) has approved Discraft as the WFDF Official Disc Supplier and Partner for 2019-2022. Discraft Inc., based in Michigan, USA, will receive the exclusive rights to produce “Official WFDF Ultimate Discs” for sale through merchandise channels and will be the supplier of the “Official Game Discs” during all WFDF Ultimate Championship events during this four-year period. It will also include sponsorship of the WFDF World Team Disc Golf and Freestyle Championships. In return, this partnership will provide benefits to both WFDF and its sanctioned event organizers. For events, Discraft will provide discounted rates on the purchase of discs for event sales and a number of official game discs. It will also provide discs and sponsorship funding to support WFDF’s development programs and general activities.

WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2020 World Masters Ultimate Championships (WMUC 2020) will be staged in Gold Coast, Australia from Saturday 5th September to Saturday 12th September 2020 at the Runaway Bay Sport Precinct. The tournament organizing committee (TOC) is WFDF member national federation the Australian Flying Disc Association (AFDA), which had hosted the WFDF 2018 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships and the WFDF 2006 World Ultimate Club Championships with great success.

“We are thrilled to receive a great bid from an experienced Tournament Organizer to host the inaugural stand-alone National Team event for masters-aged athletes following the great participation we had at the Masters Club championships held this past summer in Canada,” stated WFDF President Robert “Nob” Rauch. “It is great to showcase these masters’ athletes, and provide an opportunity for them to continue to complete at the highest level over the course of their lives. Many thanks to our tournament organizing committee, AFDA, the City of Gold Coast and Tourism Events Queensland who are working together to make WMUC 2020 a remarkable event.”

Today, on International Spirit of the Game Day, the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) releases its updated list of Spirit of the Game scores by country. This list aggregates scores received by countries attending WFDF World Championships and continental championships for Ultimate over the past four years (see complete list below). New to the list: Argentina, Cambodia, Currier Island, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Panama and Thailand. The full list of 57 countries in alphabetical order follows.

“People sometimes talk of ‘winning’ Spirit, but the truth is that Spirit of the Game isn’t winner-takes-all. The better each country does at Spirit of the Game, the more every country benefits, and the better it is for the sport as a whole,” said Travis Smith, chair of the WFDF Spirit of the Game Committee. “We hope that by gathering, tracking and sharing detailed data about Spirit performance, we can help our members and their athletes to assess and improve their Spirit of the Game.”

WFDF is pleased to announce that the WFDF 2019 All Africa Ultimate Championships (AAUC 2019) will be staged in Johannesburg, South Africafrom Friday 14th to Monday 17th June, 2019 at the East Rand Polo Club.

AAUC will contest the mixed division and expects over 10 national/ club teams from around the Continent to participate.